We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he raised his gaze to the sky and then said, "This is a time when knowledge will be snatched away from people until they can grasp none of it."Ziyad bin Labeed al-Ansari said, "How can it be snatched from us when we have read the Quran? By Allah, we will recite it, and we will teach it to our wives and our children."He replied, "May your mother lose you, Ziyad. I used to count you among the learned of the people of Medina. Here are the Torah and the Gospel with the Jews and the Christians, so what do they avail them?"Jubayr said, I met Ubada bin Samit and said, "Have you not heard what your brother Abu Darda is saying?" I then told him what Abu Darda had said.He replied, "Abu Darda has spoken the truth. If you wish, I will tell you about the first knowledge to be lifted from people. It is humility. You will soon enter a congregational mosque and not see in it a single humble man."
كنا مع رسول الله ﷺ فشخص ببصره إلى السماء ثم قال: هذا أوان يختلس العلم من الناس حتى لا يقدروا منه على شيء. فقال زياد بن لبيد الأنصاري: كيف يختلس منا وقد قرأنا القرآن؟ فوالله لنقرأنه ولنقرئنه نساءنا وأبناءنا. فقال: ثكلتك أمك يا زياد إن كنت لأعدك من فقهاء أهل المدينة، هذه التوراة والإنجيل عند اليهود والنصارى فماذا تغني عنهم؟ قال جبير: فلقيت عبادة بن الصامت قلت: ألا تسمع إلى ما يقول أخوك أبو الدرداء؟ فأخبرته بالذي قال أبو الدرداء، قال: صدق أبو الدرداء إن شئت لأحدثنك بأول علم يرفع من الناس: الخشوع يوشك أن تدخل مسجد جماعة فلا ترى فيه رجلا خاشعا.
Tirmidhi (2653) narrated it from Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman, who said, Abdullah bin Salih told us, Muawiya bin Salih narrated to me, from Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr bin Nufayr, from his father Jubayr bin Nufayr, from Abu Darda, and he related it. Its isnad is hasan because of Abdullah bin Salih, the secretary of Layth, for he is truthful and his hadith is hasan. As for Muawiya bin Salih, the Hafiz said of him, "Truthful but has some lapses." This is what is in Taqrib, but he is trustworthy according to the majority of critics. That is why Tirmidhi said after this hadith, "This is a hasan gharib hadith. Muawiya bin Salih is trustworthy according to the people of hadith, and we do not know of anyone who criticized him except Yahya bin Saeed Qattan. Something similar to this has been narrated from Muawiya bin Salih. Some have narrated this hadith from Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr bin Nufayr, from his father, from Awf bin Malik, from the Prophet ﷺ." End of Tirmidhi's words.Hakim graded it sahih (1/99), reporting it through the route of Uthman bin Saeed Darimi, who said, Abdullah bin Salih narrated to us, with the same chain. Then he said, "This is a sahih isnad from the hadith of the Basrans." Then he said, "Perhaps someone might imagine that Jubayr bin Nufayr narrated it once from Awf bin Malik Ashjai and once from Abu Darda, making the hadith defective, but this is not so, for the narrators of both chains are all trustworthy, and Jubayr bin Nufayr Hadrami is among the greatest of the followers of Syria. So if the hadith is established from him through both chains, it becomes clear that he heard it from both companions." I say, this is sound and acceptable reasoning, built on the principles of the scholars of this discipline.This hadith has also been narrated from Ziyad bin Labid, who said, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned something and said, "That will be at the time when knowledge disappears." I said, "O Messenger of Allah, how can knowledge disappear when we recite the Quran, teach it to our children, and our children teach it to their children until the Day of Resurrection?" He said, "May your mother lose you, Ziyad! I used to think you were among the most knowledgeable men in Madinah. Do not the Jews and Christians recite the Torah and the Injil yet act on nothing in them?"Ibn Majah (4048) narrated it from Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba, who said, Waki narrated to us, who said, Amash narrated to us, from Salim bin Abu Jaad, from Ziyad bin Labid, who said, and he related it. Imam Ahmad (17473, 17919), Abu Khaythama in Ilm (52), and Hakim (3/590) all narrated it through the route of Amash, with his chain, similarly. Hakim said, "sahih according to the criteria of the two shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim)." I say, it has a defect, namely that Salim bin Abu Jaad did not hear from Ziyad. Bukhari said in Tarikh al-Kabir (3/344), "I do not think he heard from Ziyad." The Hafiz stated decisively in Isabah that he never met him. Perhaps this defect was hidden from Hakim, so he graded the hadith sahih. As for Dhahabi, he remained silent on it and did not concur with him as was his usual practice, so perhaps he was uncertain whether Salim bin Abu Jaad heard from Ziyad. Allah, the Exalted, knows best.Likewise, Busiri identified this defect in Misbah Zujaja (3/253), noting that Salim bin Abu Jaad did not hear from Ziyad, and said, "Its narrators are trustworthy, but it is disconnected." Tabarani narrated it in Mujam al-Kabir (5/306) through another route from Abu Tawala, from Ziyad bin Labid, and this too contains a disconnection, for Abu Tawala did not hear from Ziyad, as the Hafiz said in Isabah in the biography of Ziyad bin Labid Ansari (1/558).As for what has been narrated from Abu Hurairah, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Learn the Quran and the laws of inheritance, and teach the people, for I am going to be taken away," it contains confusion, as Tirmidhi (2091) said. He narrated it from Abdul-Ala bin Wasil, who said, Muhammad bin Qasim Asadi narrated to us, who said, Fadl bin Dalham narrated to us, who said, Awf narrated to us, from Suhayr bin Hawshab, from Abu Hurairah, and he related the hadith. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hadith that contains confusion. Abu Usama narrated this hadith from Awf, from a man, from Sulayman bin Jabir, from Ibn Masud, from the Prophet ﷺ. Husayn bin Hurayth narrated that to us, Abu Usama informed us, from Awf, with this, in similar meaning. Muhammad bin Qasim Asadi has been graded daif by Ahmad bin Hanbal and others." End of Tirmidhi's words.I say, Ibn Abdul-Barr narrated it in Jami Bayan Ilm (1029) through another route from Hawda bin Khalifa, who said, Awf Arabi narrated to us, with his chain. He added after the words "for I am going to be taken away," "and knowledge will be taken away, and turmoil will appear, until two people will disagree over an inheritance matter and find no one to decide between them." Its isnad contains an unnamed man, and some have narrated it from Awf, from Sulayman bin Jabir, without leaving the man unnamed, so in any case it is disconnected along with the confusion, as Tirmidhi said, and Sulayman bin Jabir Hajri is unknown.Ibn Majah (2/908) and Ibn Adi in Kamil (2/791) narrated it through another route from Abu Hurairah, and it contains Hafs bin Umar bin Abu Attaf, who is daif. See for more, Talkhis Habir (4/79) and Maqasid Hasana (339).Likewise, what has been narrated from Abu Umama as a raised hadith is not sound, "Hold fast to this knowledge before it is taken away, and its being taken away is that it be lifted up." He joined his middle finger and the finger next to the thumb like this, then said, "The scholar and the student are partners in reward, and there is no good in the rest of the people." Ibn Majah (228) narrated it from Hisham bin Ammar, who said, Sadaqa bin Khalid narrated to us, who said, Uthman bin Abu Atika narrated to us, from Ali bin Zayd, from Qasim, from Abu Umama, and he related it. Its isnad is daif because of Ali bin Zayd Alhani. Yahya bin Main said, "Ali bin Zayd, from Qasim, from Abu Umama, these are all daif." Imam Ahmad (22290) and Tabarani in Kabir (8/256) also reported it through this route at length.It has also been narrated from Hajjaj bin Artah, from Walid bin Abu Malik, from Qasim, from Abu Umama, in shortened form. Tabarani narrated it in Kabir (8/276). Hajjaj bin Artah is a mudallis.